The Message at my Grandma’s Funeral – Finale

Today we sent mah mah’s body to the crematorium and said our formal goodbyes to her on this earth. Her physical body is no more, but we know that she has attained her second perfect body in heaven. This post is a continuation of a series of posts in my attempts to document her life in memory of her. It started with this prophetic post in memory of her exactly one year before her death. Followed by the service script I prepared here. Finally, this post is a documentation of the sharing I prepared at her cremation ceremony. I will also try to remember the gist of the prayers I did today.

Let us begin by reading our passage for today. Please turn with me to Ephesians 1:11-14

On Saturday night, mah mah cashed out her inheritance. She has “acquired the possession of it” according to the writer, Paul, in this letter to the Ephesians.

You see, as Christians we have an inheritance as soon as we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. This inheritance is very different to what mah mah would leave us here on this earth as she goes to heaven. This inheritance is the most precious thing anyone can ever have. And that is our salvation through Jesus Christ so that we can have certain hope of eternity in heaven.Paul says, we can be assured of this because of three things.

First, we can obtain this inheritance because God has predestined us to receive it. This simply means, God has already made up his mind before it happens that he’s going to give this to us.

Second, we have the word of truth spoken to us. The bible tells us that the Word is Jesus and the word is also scripture. Scripture is simply the bible. So this means when we open up the bible or when someone teaches us the bible, salvation truth of the gospel is spoken to us directly. There is something supernatural that happens when the word of truth is spoken. Life is given. Regeneration happens.

Finally, and most importantly, we have the seal. The guarantee chop of this inheritance. And that is the Holy Spirit. You see, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit while we’re still here on this earth as almost like a deposit for what is to come. You know when you buy things or like Singapore Casket. Stanley, my cousin, paid for the deposit first and we have to pay the rest of the promised money when it’s time to pay? This is the same concept with the Holy Spirit as our seal. He is our seal, our guarantee, that when the time comes for us, we can acquire the full possession of this inheritance. The inheritance of salvation through Jesus and spending eternity in heaven with him and or Father God.

So today we are not mourning although we’re sad to see mah mah go. We are really celebrating. We are celebrating, because Mah mah was predestined by God. She was chosen to be given this inheritance. By God’s grace, through my fumbling sharing of the gospel, the word of truth was given to her. This word of truth spoken gave her salvation through her faith in Jesus Christ. And finally, she had the Holy Spirit as the seal. She was guaranteed her inheritance through him.

Now, she has cashed it out. She has acquiring her inheritance in full payment. She gets to step into the throne room of our Creator and our Father because of his son’s blood and using the seal of the Holy Spirit. She is finally and truly home and enjoying her inheritance as a precious daughter of our living God.

So as we send her old body into the fire, we already know that she’s already in heaven and have received her new body since last Saturday. So let us now celebrate this truth and remember her journey with us.

Let us pray.

2. My prayer for Mah Mah and our family

Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, we want to praise you and thank you for your awesome and grand design of salvation. Because of your redemptive plan, Mah Mah is now with you. We can see this plan worked out truly in Mah Mah’s life. Because of this we have absolute certainty we can see her again.

We thank you for giving her this body to sustain her for 90 years of her life. Through this body, she had a loving heart. A mind for you. And lips that prays and encouraged all of us.

Father we pray that our memories of Mah Mah remains in our hearts. We pray that her life inspires us. Allow us to follow her example because she followed Christ. She is a true matriarch in our family. An example of what it means to be Christ-like. We pray that the Holy Spirit would move in all of us here today to unceasingly drive us towards Christ. All of us.

We miss her very much Lord. For now, please say “hi” to her for us again. Please give her a loving hug for us.

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About Mervin Chiang

I’m a Technologist/Consultant by day, home barista and hobbyist photographer by night. However, I am 100% born again follower of Christ all the time. I discover God's beauty through my Canon 7D’s viewfinder, taste His goodness through every sweet drop of coffee and life around me. And struggling to finish the race He has set out for me.